Part 8

Here is a large corn mill, and here the interior of such a mill. The grain is lifted from the importing ship and carried on these straps, running on rollers, to the place where it is to be stored. And here is a scene of interest to all Britons who go to the remoter frontiers of the Empire. It represents the packing of biscuits in tin boxes for export. The food having been imported is carried into all the land by railways. The British railways are, of course, relatively short, but run through dense populations, and are probably the most efficient in the world. Here is a recent express engine capable of hauling a passenger train without stopping for 300 miles. Next we see such an express running on a four-line track and picking up water for its boiler from troughs laid between the rails. Time is very valuable in Britain. Here, as an instance, is the interior of a travelling post office, which runs on express trains. The letters are sorted on the road, and the mail bags thrown out and caught up at fixed points while the train runs.

[Sidenote: 45. The Forth Bridge.]

Perhaps the grandest feat of engineering in connection with the British railways is the Forth Bridge. See how small the houses appear when compared with it.

[Sidenote: 46. Electric Power Station, Chelsea.]

[Sidenote: 47. Electric Train on Metropolitan District Railway.]

But another revolution in all the conditions of British life is now preparing. Electricity is being used to distribute power from great fixed engines, and locomotive steam engines have already been displaced on the shorter lines. Here is part of the interior of the largest power station in the world, where is generated the electricity for four railways which traverse London. This is the boiler house, with automatic stokers. And last we have an electric train. You note the absence of a locomotive.

Thus we see how the 43 million people of Britain co-operate in a single vast complex machine. But we must remember that it is not only the present generation which has made Britain such as we see it, but many millions in the past, the results of whose work we of to-day have inherited.

LECTURE VII.

THE DEFENCES OF THE EMPIRE.

Though we are so many miles away, I think you will agree that in the past six Lectures we have seen something of the two islands which are the centre of the British Empire. These islands are interesting to us because the great Empire of which we are a part has grown from them. Let us devote this last Lecture to the Empire as a whole. Let us learn how it is held together, and how it is defended, so that there may be peace and justice in all its parts.

[Sidenote: 1. Map of Empire with Naval Bases.]

In this map we see once more that the British Empire consists of a large number of separate lands scattered over the world. We have first of all the two British Islands set in the sea off the coast of Europe. They are separated by water from the military powers of Europe, and have no land frontier over which invasion may come. Then we have in North America the great Dominion of Canada, encompassed on the east and north and on most of the west by the ocean, with land frontiers only towards the United States. Next we have the Australasian Colonies, all of them islands, as in the case of the Mother Country. There are four considerable islands in the South Seas--Australia, Tasmania, and the North Island and the South Island of New Zealand. Crossing the Indian Ocean we come to South Africa, with water on three sides. Although South Africa appears to be neighboured by other States on the north, yet it is wholly different from India or Canada, or one of the great powers of Europe, because the adjacent territories are only thinly peopled, mainly by savages. South Africa is, therefore, isolated almost as effectively as is Australia. Then we come to India with ocean to the south-east and to the south-west, with the bleak tableland of Tibet to the north-east, and with accessible neighbours only to the north-west. Even Egypt and the Soudan, which appear to have great lengths of land frontier, are in effect detached by the desert, and hardly less secure than if they were surrounded by water. Lastly, we have on either side of the Atlantic West Africa and the West India colonies. These are the larger lands which form the British Empire, or are protected by it. In addition, there are many islands--some of them wealthy and important out of all proportion to their size, because they are trade centres or are covered with tropical plantations.

[Sidenote: 2. The Cables of the Indian Ocean.]

But the mere enumeration of the lands of the British Empire gives little idea of what that Empire really is. All these lands, severed by ocean and mountain and desert, would be separate countries were they not tied together by some 9,000 steamers and many thousand miles of submarine electric cable. Therefore, the steamers upon the ocean and the cables upon the bed of the ocean must be counted as important elements in the material fabric of the Empire. It is they, and they alone, which give it unity.

Now it is clear that for practical purposes the British Empire has only two land frontiers--the one on the north-west of India, the other on the south of Canada. It is therefore obvious that an attack upon any other part of the Empire must be conducted over the water. Even if there were attack upon the land frontiers, the enemy would undoubtedly operate also upon the ocean for the purpose of breaking the communications between the different parts of the Empire. He would seek to destroy the steamers and cables, so that one part of the Empire might not send help to another part. The first interest, therefore, of every section of the British Empire, is that there should be peace upon the ocean, so that the steamers may ply regularly and that the cables may not be disturbed. If the British Navy were defeated, the Empire could no longer exist.

Do you remember the map which was shown early in the first lecture, giving the lands of the world in black so that they might contrast with the blue sea? And do you remember that the object of that map was to prove that all the lands of the world, even the greatest continents, are surrounded by the ocean, and are in reality islands? The ocean, therefore, is a single vast sheet of water covering three-quarters of the globe. A squadron of ships can in a voyage of about a month go to any point on the coasts of the world. Clearly then one Navy will suffice for the sea defence of every land in the British Empire, for if the enemy’s fleet is attacking one part, a British fleet can go to that part, sure that the opponent fleet is not in any other part of the world. But if the enemy divided his fleet then the British fleet can be divided to meet him. The battleships of Britain are moving fortresses, which can be carried over three-quarters of the world instead of being fixed at a single point as they would be if they were on land.

I need hardly remind you, however, that a ship can only keep the sea while it has coal and food. Therefore, although one Navy is enough--providing it be strong--for the defence of every part of the British Empire, yet it is essential that wherever a British fleet may go it should find at no great distance British ports ready from time to time to equip it afresh. It is in Britain’s power in one short month to send a great fleet of battleships to any part of the ocean where they may be required. They would arrive ready for action, because at each stage of their journey there would be British harbours to replenish their stores and to make good defects. On the direct route to India, for instance, we have Gibraltar, Malta, and Aden. On the alternative route, round the Cape of Good Hope, are Sierra Leone, Ascension, St. Helena, Simonstown, and Mauritius. Therefore, while the Navy defends all parts of the Empire, each part has also a duty to the Navy.

The most necessary lesson to learn in regard to the sea power of Britain is that even though no battle fleet should during long years visit our own waters, yet our commerce and our peace depend upon the Navy. Owing to the British sea power Hong Kong, for instance, now stands fourth among all the ports of the world in the tonnage of its shipping. It is solely because the battleships of the world, except those of our ally, Japan, are at present in western waters that the British battleships are concentrated there to watch them.

Do you realise the economy of the British Empire? One Navy defends one-fifth of all the lands on the globe. Were India and Canada and Australia and South Africa separate states, each must maintain a navy, and the navy of each would be useless unless it were strong enough to contend with the other great navies of the world. Even the resources of India would not suffice to maintain a great fleet without very heavy taxation. Indian security and prosperity are at present wholly in the keeping of the British Navy.

[Sidenote: 3. First-Class Battleship, H.M.S. “Dreadnought.”]

Let us consider that Navy for a few moments as it exists at the present time. It consists in the first place of battleships, each bearing a few powerful guns. The ship is partly clad in steel armour to resist hostile shot. The guns can fire with accuracy to a distance of several miles. The crew numbers some 800 skilled men. The engines have the strength of 20,000 horses. The whole vast fortress, with her regiment of men, can be propelled over the ocean at the rate of 20 miles an hour. It is clear, however, that the strongest battleship afloat would run the risk of defeat if she were attacked simultaneously by several hostile battleships. Therefore, the British battleships move in squadrons of six or eight, and to ensure victory these squadrons are grouped in fleets, and all the battle-fleets of the British Navy are now gathered in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, because it happens that just now all other battle-fleets but that of our ally are collected in those waters. This is the reason why the British battleships are not distributed--here a ship and there a ship--over all the world, but are gathered together in one part. Should occasion require it, they can go together to any other part. Those, therefore, who ask that battleships should be sent, a few here and a few there, to defend every threatened port, do not know the first principle of success in war. If you divide your force, even a small fleet--if very efficient--might defeat you by fighting each of your divisions in turn. In war you must concentrate to win.

[Sidenote: 4. First-Class Cruiser. H.M.S. “Carnarvon.”]

So much for the battleship. But here is a ship appearing as large and important as any battleship. It is a first-class armoured cruiser. Her engines are, it anything, even more powerful than those of a battleship. She carries more coal and can keep the sea for a longer time without returning to port, but her guns are not quite so powerful as those of a battleship, nor is her armour quite so thick. There are other cruisers, somewhat less powerful than armoured cruisers, which are said to be protected, because they carry less defence against shot, and there are still others known as scouts, whose name reveals their special purpose. Now what is the object of these cruisers? This is an important question, because the British Navy contains more cruisers of one kind and another than battleships, and yet victory in battle is determined by strength of battleships more than of cruisers. The first object of a cruiser is to obtain intelligence for the battleships. Although a battleship can move fast, yet she cannot move so fast as ships that have not to bear such vast weights. The cruisers find out for the battleships what is going on in seas around, and whether the enemy is near. Of course they must be prepared to fight the enemy’s cruisers, and to prevent them from approaching to gain information for their own admiral. In these days cruisers communicate with the battle-fleets by wireless telegraphy, and by acting together, so that a message is taken up and passed on by successive ships, an immense area of sea may be covered, and even the distant position of the enemy’s fleet may be ascertained.

But the cruisers have also another function, which is to defend commerce. Here again you must not measure the protection given to our commerce by the frequency with which you see our cruisers. In time of war it would not as a rule be the duty of cruisers to accompany or, as a phrase is, to convoy our merchant ships from port to port. You will remember that we have 9,000 ocean-going steamers, and we should have to build an immense and costly fleet of cruisers, if we were going to protect them all by the method of convoy. Let us try to understand the action of cruisers by comparing them to policemen upon the land. In almost every community there are a certain number of thieves, who from time to time break into houses and steal, but we do not protect our houses by having a policeman always on guard in each. Our method is to detect the thieves and to arrest them. In other words, our aim is not so much to defend our houses from robbery, as to remove the thieves from society. Precisely in the same way our cruisers would not so much defend our merchantmen, as hunt down and destroy the cruisers of the enemy who broke the peace of the ocean. Our aim would be so to clear the water of hostile cruisers that our liners might steam with the same regularity and certainty in time of war as in time of peace.

[Sidenote: 5. First-class Destroyer. H.M.S. “Derwent.”]

[Sidenote: 6. Submarine Boat passing the “Victory.”]

Battles at sea are won by the use of battleships to fight and of cruisers to give information and to prevent the enemy from gaining information. But near the coast, and even on the high seas when the larger ships have been injured, there is scope for smaller vessels, which launch torpedoes against the enemy. Some of these vessels float on the surface and are known as destroyers. They move with great speed so as to avoid the enemy’s shot, and their best opportunity is by night or in thick weather. Others dive below the surface and are known as submarines. They seek to avoid the enemy by passing out of his sight, and might thus deliver an attack by day.

Now these are the parts of a fleet. The battleships which do the serious fighting, the cruisers which cover the battleships, and the torpedo craft which are used to complete the destruction of an enemy’s fleet or to defend narrow and difficult waters, where ships cannot move with speed and freedom.

We need not think, however, that a fleet must always fight. If it were strong enough, the enemy would not risk a battle, but would take refuge in his harbours. It would be the duty of a British fleet to watch these harbours closely in order to attack the enemy at once if he came out. Our commerce could then proceed peacefully, because the enemy would have no ships in position to attack it. So you see that a strong Navy makes for peace, whereas a weak Navy challenges to battle.

Before we leave this picture of a submarine let us note alongside the old sailing battleship, Nelson’s “Victory.” You see the three white stripes along her sides, each pierced by many portholes. In the time of Nelson there was a gun in each porthole, so that the old battleship sailed upon the wind and fought with many small guns.

[Sidenote: 7. Collier shipping Coal at Cardiff.]

Nowadays a fleet moves by steam and consumes much coal. The best coal for fighting purposes is that which gives little smoke, and thus does not reveal a fleet to the enemy or obscure tactical signalling. Nearly all the smokeless coal of the world is got from South Wales in the British Islands. Here is a steam collier shipping such coal at the port of Cardiff. This vessel carries about 2,300 tons of coal, and can be loaded in two hours. Each of the four tips which you see is capable of shipping a 10-ton waggon every minute, so that the ship receives 40 tons a minute. One of our great fleets, such as the Mediterranean Fleet consumes about a shipload of coal every day. Thus you realise of what significance would be coaling stations of the Indian Ocean should it ever again be necessary to send a battle-fleet into our waters.

[Sidenote: 8. Quarter-deck of H.M.S. “Majestic” showing 12-inch guns.]

[Sidenote: 9. Six-gun in action.]

[Sidenote: 10. The same.]

[Sidenote: 11. Gun in action (Marines.)]

[Sidenote: 12. Hoisting projectiles.]

Now let us go quickly through a few typical scenes on a man-of-war and let us learn something of the life of the sailors who navigate and fight her. This is the quarter-deck of His Majesty’s Ship, “Majestic.” The two guns which you see have a bore 12 inches in diameter. Here is a 6-inch quick firing gun with her crew in battle position. Do you see the men to the left who are hoisting the ammunition from the depths of the ship? Here is a nearer view of the same gun. And here yet another with the gun’s crew, this time not of bluejackets, but of marines. Every large man-of-war carries a certain number of men trained to act as soldiers who are called marines. These help to fight her guns and are sent ashore should it be necessary to land a force to deal with some local difficulty. Here we have yet another scene on deck where seamen, or bluejackets as they are called, are hoisting ammunition from the magazine.

[Sidenote: 13. Officers of H.M.S. “Fawn” in oilskins.]

[Sidenote: 14. Lieutenant of H.M.S. “Fawn” in lammy suit.]

[Sidenote: 15. Cleaning arms, H.M.S. “Diadem.”]

[Sidenote: 16. Morning Prayer.]

[Sidenote: 17. Sub-Lieutenants at Field-Gun Drill.]

Men-of-war are built of steel. They are moved by coal and steam, and their guns fire armour-piercing projectiles and shells filled with high explosives. But there is one other substance essential to a fleet, and that is brain. A gun, however powerful, is useless unless the gunner aims with accuracy. A ship, however speedy, is comparatively useless unless handled with skill. A fleet, however numerous, may be defeated unless controlled by a good admiral. Therefore the greatest importance is attached in the British Navy to the efficiency of the men and the officers. It takes several years to make a seaman, and a bluejacket serves for no less than 12 years, but it takes longer to make an officer. He begins to learn as a boy, and he is always afterwards learning. He is taught by his seniors in the service. Therefore you will understand that no nation can build up an effective navy very quickly. For, in the first instance, it has no officers to teach those who come after. Even at the end of several years it could only have a few officers of skill. So you will understand that it has taken several generations to train the great service to which the naval officers of Britain belong. Here are four of them in their waterproofs on a wet or rough day. Here is another in thick clothing for a colder day. Here, to the left of the picture, is a warrant officer superintending his men while they clean their rifles. And here, to give you an idea of the comradeship of the men who spend their lives together in the small space of a ship and in the presence of danger, is a scene on deck when the ship’s crew are mustered for morning prayer. One last slide and we must turn from the navy to the army. Here are some sub-lieutenants at field-gun drill upon the land. It often happens that our ships must send men ashore to fight in our land wars, because, naturally, our men-of-war are very frequently first on the spot, and if the enemy does not threaten a sea-fight, the sailors are free to defend or to attack before the soldiers arrive. You may, perhaps, remember that in the South African war there was a naval brigade at the defence of Ladysmith.

If you have followed me thus far, I think that you will have little difficulty in understanding the part in the defence of the Empire which has to be played by our land forces. If you have fully realised the necessity for concentrating battleships into great fleets, and for using cruisers boldly to hunt down the commerce destroyers of the enemy, you will have learnt that incidentally most of the shores of the Empire are at times laid open, perhaps not to invasion in force, but at least to raids by hostile cruisers and small military forces escorted by them. It would be very costly to tie adequate fleets to every threatened point. In nine cases out of ten the whole war would go by, and the enemy would never come into the neighbourhood of such a tied force. Moreover, defeat in the crucial battle would be risked in this attempt to give to every commercial centre the protection for which in panic it cried out.

[Sidenote: 18. Cape Town.]

The alternative is to free the fleet for its proper purpose of attacking the enemy and clearing him from the ocean, by providing such land forces in each locality as shall suffice to deal with any likely attack. More especially is it needful to protect the coaling and refitting stations of the fleet, in order that in each sea the ships may find the refreshment they require, and may not have to return to distant ports while the enemy’s cruisers are left unwatched. Here, for instance, is Cape Town, a quite likely refuge for our damaged ships in certain contingencies. It might happen, though it is not very probable, that Cape Town should be seized by a hostile raiding force, whose aim was to injure the trade going round the Cape to Australia and New Zealand. Now it is clear that if a British cruiser squadron had to watch the Cape it could not hunt for the enemy’s cruisers in the adjoining ocean. In time of war it might therefore be needful, under certain circumstances, to maintain in Cape Town and its neighbourhood such a land force as would suffice to deny the Cape harbours to the enemy. This is called the local defence of the Empire.

[Sidenote: 19. New South Wales Lancers.]

[Sidenote: 20. Royal Canadian Artillery.]

[Sidenote: 21. A Bengal Lancer.]

[Sidenote: 22. Madras Lancers.]

[Sidenote: 23. Bombay Artilleryman.]

[Sidenote: 24. A Goorkha.]

In various parts of British Territory we find local armies intended for the purpose here described. In this slide, for instance, we have a troop of New South Wales Lancers, as typical of the Australian Forces of the King. In the next is a battery of Canadian Artillery passing through a street in Ottawa when the winter snow is on the ground. Then we come to the great Indian Army. It is composed, as you know, of soldiers of many different races--of Englishmen and Scotchmen, who used formerly to fight with one another in the British Isles--and of such peoples as the Marathas and the Mohammedans, who used formerly to fight with one another in India. All are now combined for the defence of the Empire, so that there may be peace and order from the Himalayas to the ocean. Here we have a Bengal Lancer, wearing a medal which he has won in the service of the Emperor; and here a group of Madras Lancers--as you see by their stripes non-commissioned officers. Then follows a Bombay Artilleryman, with a whole row of medals on his breast, a man who has seen repeated service in the defence of his country. And then again we have a Goorkha. These four representatives of the Indian Army, from the east, the south, the west and the north, must suffice to remind us of the part we play in the great defensive scheme of the Empire.

[Sidenote: 25. Hong Kong Regiment.]

[Sidenote: 26. Malay States Guides.]

[Sidenote: 27. West India Regiment.]